This summer, Breaking was displayed in front of the world at the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris. But the competition went viral for all of the wrong reasons, especially the performance of Rachel “Raygun” Gunn.
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Many argued that her performance was a mockery of an art form that was created and popularized by young people of color in New York City in the 1970s and 1980s.
With that in mind, let’s look at some classic examples of breaking while also revisiting the history of the art, and how it became a worldwide sensation long before the Olympics.
Early Breaking
Unlike ballet or salsa, there’s not one way to break dance. It’s mostly improvised by performers and has evolved over the years with more complex and difficult moves.
Early Breaking
The dance form came from DJs in the 1970s. They noticed that people would dance at the “break” of the song or the part where you could only hear the drums without any vocals or other instrumentation.
Early Breaking
The person who’s credited with created breaking is DJ Kool Herc, who is also considered one of the early pioneers of hip-hop, which isn’t surprising considered the two are intertwined. During parties, Herc would encourage B-Boys to perform as he would continue to loop the percussion breaks during his set and hype up the crowd on the mic.
Dance Crews
As the popularity of breaking grew in New York City, B-Boys would create crews where they would come up with their own routine and often challenge others crews to battles.
Dance Crews
Some of the pioneering crews included the New York City Breakers, the Zulu Kings, the Dynamic Rockers and the Rock Steady Crew.
Legendary Breakers
Some of the legendary breakdancers who helped popularize and grow the culture include Ken Swift, Crazy Legs, Frosty Freeze, Charlie Rock, Joe Joe and Rubber Band.
New School Breaking
As hip-hop has grown in popularity, so has breaking. It’s now a worldwide sensation with multiple competitions taking place every year where the best dancers from every country duke it out to see who’s the best.
New School Breaking
As you can see, the moves of some of these dancers has evolved to something that people who created the art form wouldn’t have imagined in the 1970s.
New School Breaking
The days of only dancing to breaks in the beat is long gone, as dancers will now perform to some of the most popular songs in the world.
New School Breaking
One of the biggest competions in the world is the Red Bull BC One, an annual competition that brings together the best 16 dancers in the world to see who is the best.
New School Breaking
These competitions happen all round the world. One of the biggest ones is Battle of the Year (BOTY), which is held every year in Germany.
New School Breaking
R16 Korea is another huge competition that takes place in South Korea.
New Gen B-Boys and B-Girls
There’s now a new generation of B-Boys and B-Girls across the world who are pulling off moves that you wouldn’t believe.
New Gen B-Boys and B-Girls
While some are from the United States, like B-Boy Victor, others come from counties like the Netherlands, South Korea, Russia, France and Japan.
New Gen B-Boys and B-Girls
We didn’t forget about the B-Girls who have become just as talented and popular as B-Boys.
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